From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Chill Theodore Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. After appearing in a few westerns he disbanded the group in 1938, and struck out on a solo acting career. One of his more memorable roles was that of the distinctive voice of Francis the Mule in a series of popular films. Wills' deep, rough voice, with its Western twang, was matched to the personality of the cynical, sardonic mule. As was customary at the time, Wills was given no billing for his vocal work, though he was featured prominently on-screen as blustery General Ben Kaye in the fourth entry, Francis Joins the WACS. He provided the deep voice for Stan Laurel's performance of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in Way Out West (1937), in which the Avalon Boys Quartet appeared. Wills was cast in numerous serious film roles, including as "the city of Chicago" as personified by a phantom police sergeant in the film noir City That Never Sleeps (1953), and that of Uncle Bawley in Giant (1956), which also features Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Wills was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Davy Crockett's companion "Beekeeper" in the film The Alamo (1960). However, his aggressive campaign for the award was considered tasteless by many, including the film's star/director/producer John Wayne, who publicly apologized for Wills. Wills' publicity agent, W.S. "Bow-Wow" Wojciechowicz, accepted blame for the ill-advised effort, claiming that Wills had known nothing about it. The Oscar was instead won by Peter Ustinov for his role as Lentulus Batiatus in Spartacus. In Rory Calhoun's CBS western series The Texan, Wills appeared in the lead role in the 1960 episode entitled "The Eyes of Captain Wylie". Wills starred in the short-run series Frontier Circus which aired for only one season (1961–62) on CBS. In 1966, he was cast in the role of a shady Texas rancher, Jim Ed Love, in the short-lived ABC comedy/western series The Rounders (reprising his role in the 1965 film The Rounders, starring Henry Fonda), with co-stars Ron Hayes, Patrick Wayne and Walker Edmiston. in 1963-64, Wills joined William Lundigan, Walter Brennan and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in making appearances on behalf of U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee in the campaign against U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968, Wills refused to support Richard Nixon for the presidency and served as master of ceremonies for George C. Wallace, former governor of Alabama, for the California campaign stops in Wallace's presidential campaign.[5] Wills was among the few Hollywood celebrities to endorse Wallace's bid against Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey; another was Walter Brennan. Also in 1968, he starred in the Gunsmoke episode "A Noose for Dobie Price", where he played Elihu Gorman, a former outlaw who joins forces with Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, to track down a member of his former gang who has escaped jail. His last role was in 1978, as a janitor in Stubby Pringle's Christmas. CLR Description above from the Wikipedia article Chill Wills, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movie | Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade | Self (archive footage) | 2004-07-25 |
Movie | Drive-In Movie Memories | 2001-08-31 | |
Movie | That's Entertainment! III | (archive footage) | 1994-07-01 |
Movie | Stubby Pringle's Christmas | The Janitor | 1978-12-17 |
Movie | Poco… Little Dog Lost | Big Burt | 1977-11-23 |
Movie | Mr. Billion | Col. Clayton T. Winkle | 1977-03-03 |
Movie | It's Showtime | 1976-03-31 | |
Movie | Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid | Lemuel | 1973-05-23 |
Movie | Guns of a Stranger | Tom Duncan | 1973-05-01 |
Movie | The Steagle | Tall Guy McCoy | 1971-09-15 |
Series | Alias Smith and Jones | Unknown | 1971-01-05 |
Movie | The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again | Gentleman George Agnew | 1970-11-16 |
Movie | The Liberation of L.B. Jones | Mr. Ike | 1970-03-18 |
Movie | The Over the Hill Gang | Gentleman George Agnew | 1969-07-06 |
Movie | Big Daddy | 1969-06-11 | |
Series | Judd for the Defense | Unknown | 1967-09-08 |
Series | Tarzan | Unknown | 1966-09-08 |
Series | The Rounders | Unknown | 1966-09-06 |
Movie | Fireball 500 | Big Jaw | 1966-06-07 |
Movie | The Rounders | Jim Ed Love | 1965-01-08 |
Movie | The Cardinal | Monsignor | 1963-12-12 |
Movie | The Wheeler Dealers | Jay Ray Spinelby | 1963-11-14 |
Movie | McLintock! | Drago | 1963-11-12 |
Series | Burke's Law | Unknown | 1963-09-20 |
Movie | Young Guns of Texas | Preacher Sam Shelby | 1962-11-30 |
Series | Frontier Circus | 1961-10-05 | |
Movie | The Deadly Companions | Turk | 1961-06-06 |
Movie | The Little Shepherd Of Kingdom Come | Major Buford | 1961-06-01 |
Movie | Gold of the Seven Saints | Doc Wilson Gates, M.D. | 1961-02-18 |
Series | Route 66 | Unknown | 1960-10-07 |
Movie | The Alamo | Beekeeper | 1960-10-23 |
Movie | Where the Boys Are | Police Captain | 1960-12-28 |
Movie | Disneyland '59 | Self | 1959-06-15 |
Movie | The Sad Horse | Capt. Connors | 1959-03-01 |
Series | Rawhide | Unknown | 1959-01-09 |
Series | The Texan | Unknown | 1958-09-29 |
Movie | From Hell to Texas | Amos Bradley | 1958-04-29 |
Series | Trackdown | Unknown | 1957-10-04 |
Movie | Gun Glory | Preacher | 1957-07-19 |
Movie | Gun for a Coward | Loving | 1956-12-30 |
Movie | Giant | Uncle Bawley | 1956-11-08 |
Movie | New York Premiere Telecast 'Giant' | Host | 1956-10-09 |
Movie | Santiago | Captain 'Sidewheel' Jones | 1956-07-13 |
Movie | Francis in the Haunted House | Francis (as Francis the Talking Mule) | 1956-07-09 |
Movie | Kentucky Rifle | Tobias Taylor | 1956-07-01 |
Movie | Timberjack | Steve Riika | 1955-02-18 |
Series | Gunsmoke | Unknown | 1955-09-10 |
Movie | Francis in the Navy | Francis the Talking Mule (voice) (uncredited) | 1955-08-24 |
Series | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Unknown | 1955-10-02 |
Movie | Hell's Outpost | Kevin Russell | 1954-12-15 |
Movie | Ricochet Romance | Tom Williams | 1954-11-01 |
Movie | Francis Joins the WACS | Gen. Benjamin Kaye / Francis the Talking Mule (voice) | 1954-07-30 |
Movie | Tumbleweed | Sheriff Murchoree | 1953-12-01 |
Movie | The Man from the Alamo | John Gage | 1953-08-07 |
Movie | City That Never Sleeps | Sgt. Joe, the 'Voice of Chicago' | 1953-06-12 |
Movie | Francis Covers the Big Town | Francis the Talking Mule (voice) (uncredited) | 1953-06-10 |
Movie | Ride the Man Down | Ike Adams | 1952-11-25 |
Movie | Francis Goes to West Point | Francis the Talking Mule (voice) (uncredited) | 1952-07-01 |
Movie | Bronco Buster | Dan Bream | 1952-05-01 |
Movie | Oh! Susanna | Sgt. Barhydt | 1951-03-01 |
Movie | Francis Goes to the Races | Francis the Talking Mule (voice) (uncredited) | 1951-05-01 |
Movie | Cattle Drive | Dallas | 1951-08-01 |
Movie | The Sea Hornet | Swede | 1951-11-06 |
Series | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Unknown | 1951-12-24 |
Movie | Rio Grande | Dr. Wilkins | 1950-11-15 |
Movie | High Lonesome | Boatwhistle | 1950-09-01 |
Movie | Stella | Chief Clark | 1950-07-20 |
Movie | Rock Island Trail | Hogger McCoy | 1950-05-18 |
Movie | Francis | Francis the Talking Mule (voice) | 1950-02-08 |
Movie | The Sundowners | Sam Beers | 1950-02-02 |
Movie | The Grass Is Always Greener | Windy | 1950-01-07 |
Movie | Red Canyon | Sheriff Brackton | 1949-04-27 |
Movie | Tulsa | Pinky Jimpson (Narrator) | 1949-04-13 |
Movie | The Saxon Charm | Captain Chatham | 1948-09-28 |
Movie | Northwest Stampede | Mileaway | 1948-07-28 |
Movie | The Sainted Sisters | Will Twitchell | 1948-04-30 |
Movie | That Wonderful Urge | Homer Beggs | 1948-11-20 |
Movie | Loaded Pistols | Sheriff Cramer | 1948-12-15 |
Movie | Family Honeymoon | Fred | 1948-12-06 |
Movie | Heartaches | 'Breezie' Mann | 1947-06-28 |
Movie | The Yearling | Buck Forrester | 1946-12-18 |
Movie | Gallant Bess | Chief Petty Officer | 1946-12-05 |
Movie | The Harvey Girls | H.H. Hartsey | 1946-01-18 |
Movie | Leave Her to Heaven | Leick Thome | 1945-12-25 |
Movie | What Next, Corporal Hargrove? | Sgt. Cramp | 1945-11-21 |
Movie | Barbary Coast Gent | Sheriff Hightower | 1944-09-01 |
Movie | See Here, Private Hargrove | First Sgt. Cramp | 1944-03-18 |
Movie | I'll Be Seeing You | Swanson | 1944-12-31 |
Movie | Meet Me in St. Louis | Mr. Neely | 1944-11-28 |
Movie | Sunday Dinner for a Soldier | Mr. York | 1944-12-08 |
Movie | Best Foot Forward | Chester Short | 1943-10-08 |
Movie | A Stranger in Town | Charles Craig | 1943-04-01 |
Movie | Mr. Gardenia Jones | Hotel Employee | 1942-05-29 |
Movie | The Bugle Sounds | Sgt. Larry Dillon | 1942-01-30 |
Movie | Tarzan's New York Adventure | Manchester Montford | 1942-05-01 |
Movie | Stand by for Action | Mate Jenks, Chef-Bootsmann | 1942-12-31 |
Movie | Her Cardboard Lover | Judge | 1942-07-16 |
Movie | The Omaha Trail | Henry Hawkins | 1942-09-01 |
Movie | Apache Trail | 'Pike' Skelton | 1942-09-01 |
Movie | Honky Tonk | The Sniper | 1941-10-01 |
Movie | Belle Starr | Blue Duck | 1941-09-12 |
Movie | Billy the Kid | Tom Patterson | 1941-05-30 |
Movie | The Bad Man | 'Red' Giddings | 1941-03-28 |
Movie | Western Union | Homer Kettle | 1941-02-21 |
Movie | Tugboat Annie Sails Again | Shiftless | 1940-10-26 |
Movie | Sky Murder | Sheriff Beckwith | 1940-09-27 |
Movie | The Westerner | Southeast | 1940-09-18 |
Movie | Wyoming | Lafe | 1940-09-13 |
Movie | Boom Town | Harmony Jones | 1940-08-30 |
Movie | Sorority House | Mr. Johnson | 1939-05-05 |
Movie | Arizona Legion | Whopper Hatch | 1939-01-20 |
Movie | Trouble in Sundown | Whopper | 1939-03-23 |
Movie | Allegheny Uprising | M'Cammon | 1939-11-10 |
Movie | Racketeers of the Range | Whopper Hatch | 1939-05-26 |
Movie | Timber Stampede | 1939-06-29 | |
Movie | The Day the Bookies Wept | Man on Bus | 1939-09-13 |
Movie | Lawless Valley | Deputy Speedy McGow | 1938-11-03 |
Movie | Nobody's Baby | Amateur Hour Lead Quartet Singer (as The Avalon Boys) | 1937-04-23 |
Movie | Way Out West | Lead Singer of the Avalon Boys / Stan's Bass Singing (uncredited) | 1937-04-16 |
Movie | At Sea Ashore | Leader of The Avalon Four (uncredited) | 1936-04-04 |
Movie | Call of the Prairie | Singing Cowhand | 1936-03-06 |
Movie | Bar 20 Rides Again | Background Singer / Henchman | 1935-12-06 |